The Potters

Trish & Steve Barnes established Noble Clay in 1983 in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and moved into their studio on the coast of Maine in 1990. There, they work together, personally creating each piece of pottery.

Trish grew up in Arlington Heights, Illinois. She received a BS in Art Education and has been a potter since 1968. She studied at Arrowmont Crafts School in Tennessee and at the Radcliffe Studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Steve grew up in Rochester, New York. He was trained as a Biologist and taught at the University of Delaware. He enrolled in a pottery course in 1982 and has never looked back!

Trish and Steve are ably assisted in the studio, the packing room, and the office, by Deb Miles, Loa Blake, and Winnie Crockett.

Trish and Steve are members of the Maine Crafts Association, the Potters Guild, and the American Crafts Council.

The Pottery

Noble Clay pottery is entirely handcrafted. The clay is carefully formed into graceful shapes and decorated with crisp, freely drawn designs. Our signature motifs--the dove, sheep, bunny, fish, cat, scallop shell, pine trees, tulip, and lupine--reflect our appreciation of nature flourishing just outside our barn studio here on the Maine Coast.

Our pottery is created from porcelain--a fine, white clay which, when fired at a high temperature, becomes strong, dense, vitreous, and translucent. All plates, platters, and vessel forms are thrown on the potter's wheel, while each flat piece is hand-cut from a rolled-out slab of clay. All are decorated by hand using a cobalt-blue slip, and, as each piece is unique, individual differences are to be expected and celebrated.